By Canadian Press

Independent senators push to suspend Beyak again, despite apology

Feb 26, 2020 | 2:43 PM

OTTAWA — Independent senators want to suspend Sen. Lynn Beyak a second time, even though she has apologized for posting derogatory letters about Indigenous Peoples on her website.

After months of digging in her heels, Beyak apologized “unreservedly” Tuesday to her fellow senators and promised to take a training course on racism towards Indigenous Peoples.

But Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, leader of the Independent Senators Group, says that’s not enough for Beyak to avoid another suspension.

He argues that it’s normal practice in professional bodies for a person to be suspended while taking remedial training, even after an apology.

Woo says members of his group, the largest caucus in the upper house, are frustrated with procedural games played Tuesday to prevent the Senate from voting on the ethics committee report that recommended Beyak be suspended once again.

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Beyak was kicked out of the Conservative caucus and eventually suspended without pay last May after refusing to remove the offensive letters from her website — a suspension that ended automatically when Parliament dissolved for last fall’s federal election.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2020.

The Canadian Press